Bob & Mary Lou's New Zealand Adventure 2011-12 - Page Text Content

1: The Golden Gate Bridge | Alcatraz | Turning the cable car | Ships in the harbour | We stopped in San Fransisco on the way to Auckland.

2: Kary's apartment on St. Patrick's Square | ...and a great place to recuperate! | A wonderful place to stay...

3: Phil has a beautiful yard with a great garden - a lemon tree, a lime tree, a mandarin tree, grape vines, and more! | Phil's house on Blockhouse Bay Road.

4: Celebrating Festivus with the Douglas family

5: The Douglas family was warm, hospitable, and a little bit wacky. We felt very welcome, and had a great time.

6: Christmas Day at Chris and Cherie's home. Chris and Cherie made us feel so welcome as we spent Christmas afternoon and evening on the patio enjoying good food, good drink and great company.

7: Rotorua There are sulfur hot springs in Rotorua which were used to create a spa in the late 1880's, and are used today to heat pools like the Polynesian baths.

8: Napier In the 1930's, an earthquake and subsequent fire flattened Napier. The whole downtown area was rebuilt in the style of the day - Art Deco. To this day, the city celebrates its Art Deco style

9: We thoroughly enjoyed the whole atmosphere. We were also fascinated to realize that, when we looked out over the water, the next land mass reached would be South America.

10: Downtown Auckland

11: The Auckland Waterfront

12: Arataki Visitor's Centre

13: Piha Beach | Piha is a surfing beach that is so rough and rugged that there is a tv show called "Piha Rescue".

14: Climbing Rangitoto | Rangitoto is a dormant volcano that is only about a thousand years old. It can be seen from Auckland.

15: Cricket | Phil and Kary tried to explain the ins and outs of cricket to us. We don't really understand it all, but at least we have the general concept.

16: Hanging out with Kary and Phil | Bob's favourite store for used CDs | Signs that are just a little different | Flat Whites- a shot of espresso & steamed milk | Great fabric stores | Some of our favourite things in New Zealand

17: The Auckland Art Gallery | A freestanding food court with great food and a bar! | Black swans | Cars with familiar makes but different names | The wine tour near Napier

19: St Patrick's Cathedral, a beautiful church with a quirky sense of humour around their fountain!

20: While we were there, a major cricket match was being held in the Melbourne Cricket Ground. We just missed the Australian Open Tennis Tournament, held in Rod Laver Stadium, which was held 3 weeks after we left. | The streets in downtown Melbourne were designed so that there was a centre lane that allowed for either parking, or for the streetcar tram to travel.

21: Our Day in the Dandenong Mountains with Margaret | Margaret Thomas, a friend of a friend, was kind enough to take us through the Dandenong Mountains, and out to lunch at her spectacular club.

22: We stopped at the Moonlit Sanctuary Wildlife Conservation Park on the way to Phillip Island to see the penguins.

23: We really enjoyed seeing the animals up close, and hand feeding the wallabies!

24: The Nobbies | Penguins make their nests in the coastline on Philip Island. We stayed to watch the penguin parade and were amazed.

25: A few of our favourite things about Melbourne ... Chinatown, where we had a terrific meal ... the kangaroos on the statue ... the sinking library ... cricket players in store windows where we might have hockey players ... Burger King's name replaced by Hungry Jack's ... the list of coffees at this coffee shop ... Bob and friend in a shopping centre ... Kary in the centre of the fountain!

27: We were fascinated by the flowers, trees and ferns in New Zealand.